Changes brought about by iOS 8 for mobile marketers

When working on a new version of a mobile operating system, user experience is usually the first thing developers have in mind; after all, it’s what determines if the new operating system is a hit or a miss. From all thesegments that need to adapt to the changes brought by the new software (such as mobile app developers, designers, etc.), there’s one category that’s impacted the most every time: mobile marketers. While in the case of developers and designers things don’t change much from one release to another, in the case of a mobile marketer even the slightest change brought by a new operating system can totally throw his entire marketing strategy off-track. A good example of an operating system that comes with changes that might seem minor for users, but are in fact huge changes for mobile marketers is Apple’s latest release – iOS 8. Here’s what you need to know about the features of iOS 8 that will affect your mobile marketing strategy, and how to make them work for you.

Actionable Push Notifications

The Feature: iOS 8 comes with smart notifications that allow you to interact with them directly, without the need of opening the main app. This is a huge plus for the user experience, as it leads to better multitasking and is a distraction-free method of getting simpler tasks done. However, from a mobile marketer’s perspective, things might not look all that good.

The Challenge: A regular notification will bring the user to your main app, where you can come with various persuasive tactics and eventually convince the user to make a purchase. In the case of an actionable notification, the user has to make the decision on the spot, and it’s a known fact that quick decisions are not a mobile marketer’s best approach.

The Solution: Play smart! There are plenty of ways to creatively use the actionable part of a push notification without actually rushing the user into making a purchase. You could use it to deliver actionable promotions, such as sharing something in order to receive a promotion, or facilitate subscribing to the newsletter. The best idea is to leave the purchase in its place – within the main app. In the case of a returning customer, you could consider adding a direct purchase button directly to the notification, as if he already bought something, chances are he’s open to do it again.

Touch ID Security

The Feature: Apple’s fingerprint-based iPhone unlocking option now comes to apps in iOS 8. The feature can now be used to replace a passcode in apps, granting access to sensitive data or authenticating transactions.

The Challenge: The biggest challenge in effectively using this feature is the user’s skepticism of using something as personal as a fingerprint in an app.

The Solution: Make the users understand that their information is safe. You won’t have to do any mind games or trick them, as their information really is safe – Apple has very strict policies about these things, so you just need to reinforce this and convince them that their fingerprints cannot be copied, stolen or reverse-engineered by using them in an app. Once you achieve that, you can use the Touch ID feature to your advantage to make the checkout process simpler, which will make the users more willing to make a purchase.

MAC Randomization

The Feature: In iOS 8 Apple focused a lot on security, and one of the features implemented to increase security and user privacy was MAC address randomization.

The Challenge: MAC-based identification is used by some marketers in order to promote location-sensitive promotions. This approach is common in supermarkets or shopping malls, where customers are identified by their MAC address once they connect to the local Wi-Fi.

The Solution: There are various methods of creating location-aware campaigns, aside from using MAC recognition. At a cost of having the user perform an extra step, you can require them to manually log in the app once they get to a certain store in order to view the running promotion. Using Touch ID, this could be easily implemented. The upside of this method, versus the classic MAC recognition, is that it is not intrusive, thus making the users feel more secured.

About Author:This is the guest post by Fredrick Cameron and Makeover Games 365!
Fredrick Cameron is a video game expert and usually writes about the latest games. He also loves playing them at his free time and his favorite games play online are Train Games 365.

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